Using the Pottery Wheel to Explore Topics in Calculus

• Autores: Elin Farnell, Marie Snipes
• Localización: Primus: problems, resources, and issues in mathematics undergraduate studies, ISSN 1051-1970, Vol. 25, Nº. 2, 2015, págs. 170-180
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Students sometimes struggle with visualizing the three-dimensional solids encountered in certain integral problems in a calculus class. We present a project in which students create solids of revolution with clay on a pottery wheel and estimate the volumes of these objects using Riemann sums. In addition to giving students an opportunity for tactile learning, this project focuses students� attention on concepts relating to (i) functions that have no algebraic formula; (ii) notation and construction of Riemann sums; and (iii) error estimation. We will describe our project design, implementation, and suggested adaptation